[Introduction]

Zascha Firsov. For twenty-three years that had been his name. It wasn't anything special. There were no historical ties or celebrity connotations tied to it. It was just a simple name that his parents had given him.

Yet for some reason, the fact that it was foreign and exotic?, some girls found it amazing. It was nothing amazing. It was just a name.

He had managed to curb his accent for the most part but it was still there. Not as heavily as it had been when he had first left home, but when you spoke to him you could obviously tell that English was not his first language. Though for having learned a great deal of it on the fly he was pretty good at it. But Zascha had always been a fast learner.

At least when it came to that kind of stuff.

Technology was another thing completely. Living in a small hunting village far from any major cities, they had little to no technology. One of his closest neighbors had a black and white television. But most people communicated face to face. There was no internet. No Twitter. No Google. If you wanted to know something you went out and learned about it.

Zascha didn't even know how to drive. He could walk forever if he needed to. But cars and trucks were just impractical on the small mountain roads. And if you got stuck somewhere it would take even more time for someone to get out there to get you unstuck. And god forbid they get stuck too. Walking and horse back was always the better option. There was just no getting around it.

The last six years before Zascha came to Deus, he lived with his life rather peacefully with his four younger sisters. Marta, Brie, Anne and Merina. Eldest to youngest respectively. Their father had disappeared mysteriously not long after Zascha's mother found out she was pregnant with Merina. Him vanishing like that had never sat well with Zascha, his father being a family man who had dedicated his life to work, his wife and children. But he had honestly never looked very far into it.

Zascha knew there were things in the forest. Dark things. Things that could spirit away even the strongest willed men.

It wouldn't be long until tragedy would strike once again. His mother had birthed Merina but a fever had taken hold of her not long after and quickly she deteriorated until finally she had passed quietly in the night. Now it was up to him to hold their little family together. Marta took up the motherly role, cooking and cleaning. Watching out for her younger siblings and caring for the baby while Zascha was away. But whenever he returned he was always welcomed with hugs and kisses from his younger sisters.

For six years all five of them lived a fairly mundane day to day life. Zascha and Marta had left school so that their younger siblings could prosper. He had been in the first semester of his senior year of high school so he was fairly educated but had never graduated. But that had always been fine with him. His life was there with his sisters, there was no money for further schooling anyway. He would squirrel away anything extra for the younger ones and hope they would take an interest in furthering their education later down the road.

He had been out hunting for a couple of days. It wasn't anything unusual for him. But in the middle of the second day, Zascha had gotten a strange feeling. Packing up his stuff he headed back.

For weeks he had felt as if something were watching the house. It wasn't odd for him to get up in the middle of the night and walk out onto the porch to stare out into the darkness of the forest. The problem was, was that it always felt like someone or something was staring back. But he had brushed it off, he needed to take this trip so they would have some ration of food besides what staples they could afford in town.

When he returned home there were no sisters rushing out the door to greet him with warm hugs. A stench clung to the air and he raced up the steps to the door of his house. Pausing momentarily, staring at the bloody hand print streaking across the dark polished wood as if someone where dragged back inside. His heart pounding in his ears the door creaked open on it's own. That one wooden plank in the porch floor always popped the front door open if you stepped on it and the door wasn't latched.

He had scolded the girls more than once about that.

Calling out for his sisters, he stepped into the dark house. Light from outside was dim, but it still lit up the rooms as the curtains on all the windows were ripped from their poles. As he moved into the living room, Zascha nearly gagged at the smell. Eyes widening at the sight in front of him.

Marta, Brie, Anne.

There they lay. The three of them in a bloody mess, clinging to one another as their bodies lay torn apart. Dropping to his knees his eyes glazed over as he stared. He wanted to look away but he couldn't. It felt as if his body was moving without him even being in control. Pushing himself up off the floor he slowly walked outside, leaned over the porch railing and wretched into the flower bushes.

As he stood there still doubled over he noticed something in the dirt. Foot prints. Small ones besides strange over sized ones. Merina. He hadn't seen her in there she may be alive but those other foot prints sent a chill up his spine. They were still fairly fresh so perhaps he could catch up with her.

Finding himself again he jumped over the railing and trailed the foot prints. They led him on a crazy, twisting path through the forest. Miles away from his home. He wasn't away that hours had passed until the foot prints stopped at the base of a large, gnarled tree. Throwing himself against the tree he looked for any way in. A seam or something that indicated perhaps an entrance. They couldn't have just disappeared into thing air!

For days he sat by the tree. Waited. Watched. He barely slept. But nothing came or went. Defeated and confused Zascha made his way back to his home. Burying his three sisters besides their mother beneath the large tree near their home before he began to gather some of his belongings. There was no point in staying here anymore.

Boarding up the front door, it would be the last time he came here. At least physically.